EU Field
testing: CLOSEYE project puts drones over the Mediterranean10.05.2013A multi-million euro border control
project was launched in Spain at the end of April that will see
drones, satellites and aerostats deployed over the southern Mediterranean
in an attempt to provide the EU "with an operational and
technical framework that increases situational awareness and
improves the reaction capability of authorities surveying the
external borders of the EU." [1]

The project - "collaborative
evaluation of border surveillance technologies in maritime environment
by pre-operational validation of innovative solutions",
shoehorned into the abbreviation CLOSEYE - has received over
9 million in funding from the security strand of the EU's
7th Framework Programme (FP7), an amount that makes up more than
three-quarters of its 12.2 million total budget. [2]

Arsenio Fernandez de Mesa,
head of Spain's Guardia Civil, told the CLOSEYE launch
meeting in Madrid that "the project would improve public
safety at sea as well as fighting illegal immigration and assisting
border control. The Guardia Civil aims to protect the
Spanish and Europeans as well as helping those who risk their
lives at sea for a better future in Europe," according to
Euro Weekly News. [3]

The Moroccan paper Ya
Biladi reports that Spanish Lieutenant Colonel José
Manuel Santiago told the press conference that CLOSEYE was meant
to "quickly send alerts on what's going on without waiting
for migrants or mafia to reach the Spanish coast." [4]

CLOSEYE is intended to
reinforce the SIVE project (Sistema Integrado de Vigilancia
Exterior, Integrated System for External Surveillance) which
has been in operation since 2002 and uses radar and surveillance
cameras "scattered throughout the coastline to scan incoming
vessels and intercept them if they are suspicious." [5]
The addition of satellite imagery, aerostats, and drones such
as the Camcopter S-100 [6] will significantly increase the powers
of state authorities acting in the Mediterranean Sea.

The project will bring
together the Portuguese Ministry of Internal Administration,
the Italian Space Agency, the Italian Centre for Aerospace Research
(CIRA) the Spanish state-owned firm ISDEFE (System Engineering
for the Defence of Spain), the European Commission, the EU Satellite
Centre (SatCen) and the Italian Ministry of Defence under the
aegis of the Spanish Interior Ministry. One of the criteria for
involvement in the project is "to be deeply involved in
the development of EUROSUR [the European Border Surveillance
System] and other initiatives that target security in a maritime
environment." [7]

The EU's border agency,
Frontex, will also be involved, acting in an advisory role to
the Project Management Board. This will establish "a non-binding
link between the project experiments and the FRONTEX coordinated
Joint Operations that take place in the areas of interest, namely
Alboran Sea and Central Mediterranean region." The Alboran
Sea lies to the east of the Strait of Gibraltar.

CLOSEYE will run for 38
months, after which it is expected that a working system will
be in place that can be "homogenised to the entire European
Union." [8] With Frontex in the process of preparing aerial
surveillance missions at the Greek-Turkish border, and
discussions between the Council and Parliament on the EUROSUR
ongoing, [9] plans for fortifying Europe's borders with surveillance
and detection technologies are developing fast.

The article in Ya Biladi
argues that the SIVE and CLOSEYE projects, and the mindset of
Frontex, demonstrate a "security logic" approach to
irregular immigration, which benefits "private companies
dealing in armaments and surveillance technologies."

The website makes little
mention of the need to "improve public safety" or to
"help those who risk their lives at sea for a better future
in Europe," and appears to demonstrate a rather different
mindset. One statement on the front page notes that:

"By promoting this
competitive testing and assessment of the potential solutions,
CLOSEYE will pave the way towards the definition of future integrated
surveillance solutions from a fact-checked perspective, fully
validated from those who, eventually, will face the upcoming
security threats and risks."

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